Mortimer
by Vaako
Summary: Mo reads himself into Inkheart instead of Resa, and is unable to return. Alone and grieving the loss of his world; he stumbles upon a welcoming village and makes a new home and name for himself as a teacher and eventually the Bluejay! BP/Mo/DF SLASH HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

Mortimer

I found it in a second hand book shop and it caught my eye. Its cover was tacky and ruined, but if I liked the story enough I'd fix it up a new binding.

I read it to myself in my spare time, mouthing the words and I quickly became engrossed. Fairies, monsters, magic, kings, princes, fire-eaters! Gypsies, bears, thieves and more! The magical world quickly caught my imagination and I had to share it. I had to share it with Resa, she loved books like this.

"Resa!" I called to her down the hall, walking towards the front room, "Resa, you have got to read this book after me! You'd love it, it has everything."

I rounded the corner and she looked up at me, from where she sat reading a magazine and watching Meggie play with her dolls house. She smiled, "Why don't you read it to me?"

Read it to her? Read it aloud? I hated reading aloud... but she didn't need to know that. It was a silly thing to have a problem over anyway, "Oh - alright."

"Really?" her face lit up. "I'm so excited!"

And bless her, she really was... she was good to me. I felt a little pleased and ill at ease so I crouched next to Meggie, "Meggie, do you want to hear a story?" I asked her.

"No." she told me, not even looking up from her dolls house.

Resa laughed, and I did too. I ruffled Meggie's hair affectionately, and sat down on the carpet, against the wall facing Resa. "Alright, here we go. The story of Inkheart..."

I hadn't read aloud since I was a child. Something bad had happened then, but I don't like to think about it... it made me feel sick and dizzy to remember. Maybe I was crazy - but no. It was just my childhood imagination. I imagined it. Everything would be okay.

After all, nothing had happened in years...

Then again I hadn't read aloud for years...

But as I read - seeing in my peripheral vision; my wife lying on her back, hands resting on her stomach, eyes closed, listening to me... Meggie playing in the corner, her quiet, adorable chatter... I felt happy, I felt free. I felt a wild exhilaration, sharing this... this secret... with my family.

Then they began to fade away as I grew absorbed in the reading. My voice echoed in my head and my heart and my stomach... a strange sensation came over me... a faintness of consciousness... I was walking on air, floating in water, weightless, empty ... full ... heavy...

I felt something flutter against my face in a butterfly kiss and my voice faltered and stopped as I watched a blue fairy fly slowly by in front of my eyes.

Standing on shaky legs, I looked about me and stepped forwards, unhurried in this dreamlike place. But my footsteps sped up as I spun in place, looking about myself again and again. I dropped the book - Inkheart and I quickly knelt to pick it up again.

My knees brushed the grass and a sharp stone caught me, made me bleed. I gripped the book tightly and squeezed my eyes shut. I knew then that this was really happening. I was really here.

I had read myself into Inkheart...

I became confused, frightened, and, I am ashamed to say; a little excited. I slipped the book into my pocket and did the only thing I could do, I began to walk. As I walked, following a path worn by animals of this dense forest, I thought of what I might do to return.

How I would have loved to be transported to another world if I had my family with me. What would they do without me? Stay with Elinor? What would _I_ do without them?

I had to find a way to return. There had to be a way.

The day was early, as it had been in the book. The forest was murky, light slanted through the leaves overhead. I had to duck branches that caught in my hair and clothing. Humans did not come this way often.

But it was so beautiful... dust motes floated in the light, sparkling like diamonds! Each leaf seemed crafted by a master artisan. I had to stop frequently to touch and feel and observe and listen - just to remind myself that I was not dreaming...

I tried not to think of Resa; frightened and scared, wondering what had happened, what she had seen... never to know. But she would know. He'd make sure of it. He would return to her and Meggie.

Despair, despair. I had to try not to think of it... for how was I to read myself back? I covered my face and fought back foolish tears... how long I stood like this, I do not know. Eventually I felt a slight brush against my shoulder.

It was like a leaf had landed on me. The gentle, almost not-there weight tickled and I reached a hand up to brush it away - only to quickly snap it back, hissing with pain.

A blue fairy, like the one before - possibly the one from before - was attacked to my finger! I yelled, "Argh!" shook my hand. God knows what the nasty little thing might be carrying, it might've been venomous! I shook my hand again and its sharp little teeth couldn't hold on. It was flung into the bushes.

It rose up immediately, an angry buzzing came from it and all directions as more and more fairies appeared. I raised my hands calmly and backed towards a mossy pond I had passed earlier.

As I backed away, I spoke to them, not really paying attention to what I was saying, just eager to reach and placate them... "Come now, hush-hush! Calm yourselves! I apologise, I have never encountered your kind before - and what beautiful creatures you are!" This last line seemed to reach them more than anything I'd said before, so I continued in that vein, "_Never _have I _ever_ seen such captivating and _wondrous_ creatures!"

The buzzing actually died down into an appreciative murmur. One even deined to land upon my shoulder and I almost flinched, almost. But I continued in my flattery until my voice was hoarse.

Once I had finally fell silent they didn't take offence but made their drowsy, narcissistic and sated way in the half-light to their nests.

The one on my shoulder, which had been joined by several more, also left me. One fairy gave a little tug to my hair as they left and I couldn't stop the grin that curled my lips.

It was almost pitch dark now and I had no idea of what direction to go, so I huffed and huddled in my shirt, thinking of Resa and Meggie and my warm bed. Would Resa be putting Meggie to bed now? Or was she distressed and looking for me? Calling for me?

I ran my hand over my face to rid myself of thoughts that wouldn't help me now. I looked around, squinted and wondered whether it was safe to sleep here or not.

It would have to do...

TBC...

A/N: this will be slash.


	2. Chapter 2

Mortimer

Continuing:

The blue fairies were already busy by the time the cold and the damp mist woke him.

Mortimer woke hungry and thirsty, and his body ached from sleeping on the cold ground. His clothes felt harsh against his chilled and humid skin. He needed to find people, he hoped there were some nearby or he would surely die in this forest.

He sat for a while, with his head in his hands, trying to get his bearings. He had hoped it was a dream. His sleep had been fitful, and every time he woke during the night his hope that this was a nightmare drifted further away.

The fairies; silly things, eventually drew him from his living nightmare induced misery. Flying this way and that, they had begun to ignore him, which he was grateful for. He was less grateful for the way they would fly into his head. For such tiny creatures, they packed a punch.

It was like having a sharp rock thrown at his head. By the time the third one had flown into him, and flown away again in a rage, they had drawn blood. "Enough!" He shouted, halfway humorously, always mindful of inciting their anger.

The fairies fell silent and still and waiting. He spoke to them for a while, his voice undulating gently, gauging, and he found they found his voice to be calming. They drifted slowly, their little voices sweet, their little faces serene.

He whistled at one closest to him, drawing its attention and beckoned with one long finger. It fluttered questioningly before him. "Can you take me to other people, humans? People like me?"

The little creature tilted it little head at him and smiled a pointy little smile. It landed on a tree trunk and climbed higher, its motions grotesque and odd, like a long limbed, human-mimicking insect. It stopped at eye level and grinned at him, wider.

"Is that a yes?" He asked, unsure – though he was very sure it had understood his question.

It ducked its head, cold beady eye staring into one of his. It tilted its head and neck this way and that way, looking at him, very closely. Its motions reminded him of a budgie looking in the mirror. And he wondered if it was looking at its own reflection in his dark watering eyes.

"You want something in return?" He guessed, glancing around the clearing, and ghostly fingers crawled up his spine as he realised every last fairy was watching him. Faces peered at his from every corner. "A song, maybe?" he offered, heart beating rapidly.

A long pause ensued. He could hear something big moving through the brush, meters away. He glanced over but saw nothing through the trees. 'Bear' said his mind, 'a bear'. The fairy he'd been talking to launched itself from the tree trunk and fluttered before him, it beckoned to him with a tiny finger, mimicking human motions, again.

He followed. Unsure, he began humming a tune. The only song he could think of was one he'd sung to Meggie the night before he read himself into this book. It was a nursery rhyme, and maybe a little morbid, but he doubted these fairies would mind.

Singing didn't seem to call things out, or to life as his reading aloud did – possibly it was lack of concentration, or belief.

The fairy looked back at him as his humming faltered and he began singing, "… the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh, the alley-alley-oh, the alley-alley-oh, the big ship sails on the alley-alley-oh, on the last day of September…"

Singing one nursery rhyme helped him remember more. The songs came easily, and the fairies led him through the forest safely. He was halfway singing through his fifth rhyme when they exited the forest. He made sure to finish the little song for the waiting fairies and watched them drift away, back into the trees.

Mortimer looked out across the golden fields and the small village. It looked friendly and warm. His stomach rumbled. He took a deep breath and he walked on. His steps were heavy, his heart full of fears and he wished he was home.

Sorry for the short chapter, more to come soon!


End file.
